How to Check If an Online College Is Accredited

An online college’s website says “fully accredited” in big letters. That sounds reassuring, but it proves nothing on its own. Diploma mills say the same thing, sometimes backed by an accrediting agency they invented.

Accreditation affects almost everything that comes after enrollment: whether you can get federal student aid, whether your credits transfer, whether a graduate school will accept your degree and whether employers take it seriously.

The good news is that checking takes about 10 minutes and costs nothing. This guide walks through the exact steps using the official databases, and shows you how to spot a fake accreditor before you pay a deposit.

Why accreditation matters for online students

Accreditation is a quality review carried out by independent agencies. In the US, the Department of Education doesn’t accredit schools itself. Instead, it recognizes accrediting agencies that meet federal standards, and the private Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) recognizes accreditors through its own process.

Here is what is at stake:

• Federal student aid. Schools must be accredited by a federally recognized agency, among other requirements, to offer federal grants and loans.
• Credit transfer. Many colleges won’t accept credits from unaccredited schools.
• Graduate school. Most graduate programs expect a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.
• Jobs and licenses. Employers and state licensing boards often check accreditation. Our guide on whether online degrees are respected by employers explains what hiring managers look at.

Key takeaway: Don’t trust the word “accredited” on a school’s website. Verify the school in official databases, then verify that its accreditor is recognized by the Department of Education or CHEA. Both checks are free.

The 2 types of accreditation to check

There are 2 layers, and depending on your goal you may need both.

Institutional accreditation covers the whole school. This is the baseline every online student should confirm. Examples of recognized institutional accreditors include the Higher Learning Commission, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the New England Commission of Higher Education and the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC), which focuses on schools that teach mainly by distance education.

Programmatic accreditation covers a specific program, such as nursing, engineering, business, pharmacy or counseling. In licensed professions, a licensing board may require a degree from a programmatically accredited program.

You’ll still see schools call themselves “regionally” or “nationally” accredited. The Department of Education removed that geographic distinction from its rules in July 2020 and now distinguishes institutional from programmatic accreditors. Some colleges still use the old labels when they decide which transfer credits to accept, so it’s worth asking.

Step by step: how to verify accreditation

Step 1: Find the exact accreditor’s name

Look for an “Accreditation” page, usually linked in the website footer or under “About”. Write down the accrediting agency’s full name exactly as written. Vague phrases such as “internationally accredited” or “licensed” without a named agency are a warning sign.

Step 2: Search the Department of Education’s DAPIP database

Go to the Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs (DAPIP) at ope.ed.gov/dapip. Search by the institution’s name, and check:

• That the school appears at all
• Which accrediting agency is listed, and whether it matches the website
• The accreditation status, such as accredited or pre-accredited
• Any dates or actions listed

DAPIP lists institutions and programs accredited by agencies the Department recognizes. It also has a separate list of the accrediting agencies themselves.

Step 3: Search CHEA’s directory

Next, search the CHEA database at chea.org. CHEA says its directory covers more than 8,200 institutions and more than 44,000 programs accredited by recognized organizations. Searching both DAPIP and CHEA gives you a second, independent confirmation, and the 2 recognition lists don’t overlap perfectly.

Step 4: Confirm the accreditor is recognized

This is the step most people skip, and it is the one that catches fakes. Look up the accrediting agency’s name on the Department of Education’s lists of recognized institutional and programmatic accrediting agencies, or in CHEA’s directory of recognized accrediting organizations. If the agency appears on neither, treat the school’s accreditation claim as meaningless.

Step 5: Check programmatic accreditation for your field

If you’re studying nursing, teaching, social work, counseling, engineering, law or a health profession, find out which programmatic accreditor your licensing board or employers expect. Then confirm that the specific program, not just the university, holds it.

Step 6: Check state authorization and licensure disclosures

Online schools must be authorized to enroll students in the state where you live. Many do this through the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA), run by NC-SARA. SARA covers 49 states plus Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. California is not a member, so California residents should check that an out-of-state school is approved to enroll them.

For licensure-track programs, federal rules at 34 CFR 668.43 require schools to publish the states where the program does and doesn’t meet educational requirements for a license. Find that disclosure and confirm your state is on the “meets” list. This is not legal advice, so contact your state licensing board if anything is unclear.

Step 7: Cross-check with federal college data

Look up the school on the Department of Education’s College Scorecard for costs, graduation rates and earnings data. A legitimate accredited college that takes federal aid will usually appear there.

Quick checklist: is this online college legitimate?

How to spot fake accreditors and diploma mills

The Federal Trade Commission warns that some fake degree programs make up an accreditor or lie about being accredited by a real one. Accreditation mills can have official-sounding names and polished websites.

Watch for these warning signs:

• The accreditor isn’t on the ED or CHEA lists. This is the clearest test.
• Sound-alike names. The FTC notes some diploma mills use names that look or sound like well-known universities.
• Degrees for “life experience” alone. The FTC says no legitimate school awards an entire degree based on experience.
• Very fast degrees. Promises of a degree in days, weeks or a few months.
• Per-degree pricing. Paying a flat fee for a degree rather than per credit, course or term.
• Little or no coursework. Legitimate colleges, including online schools, require substantial work and interaction with instructors.
• Pressure to pay now. Aggressive deadlines and discounts for signing up today.

The FTC also suggests searching the school’s name with words like “review”, “scam” or “complaint”, and asking a local college whether it would accept the school’s credits in transfer.

Special cases worth knowing

Pre-accreditation or candidate status. Some new schools are in a candidacy phase with a recognized accreditor. This is legitimate, but it carries more risk if the school doesn’t complete the process. Ask what happens to your degree if accreditation isn’t granted.

Accreditation on probation or show-cause status. A school may be accredited but under review. Check the accreditor’s own website for public notices about the school.

Foreign online universities. The Department of Education’s recognition applies to accreditation within the US. If you earn a degree from a school abroad, US employers and colleges may ask for a credential evaluation from an independent evaluation service. Ask the employer or school which services it accepts before paying for one.

Unaccredited but legitimate schools. A small number of schools choose not to seek accreditation, often for religious or philosophical reasons. Their degrees may not qualify you for federal aid, transfer credit or licensure, so know the tradeoffs first.

Where to start today

If you’re comparing online programs right now, do this in order:

1. Shortlist 3-5 programs and note each school’s accreditor.
2. Run each school through DAPIP and CHEA, and confirm each accreditor is recognized.
3. Check programmatic accreditation and licensure disclosures if your career needs a license.
4. Compare total costs, since tuition and fees vary a lot. See our breakdown of how much an online degree costs.
5. Confirm aid eligibility and file your aid application. Our guide on filling out the FAFSA online walks through it.

If you’re still deciding whether a degree is the right path, our guides on getting into tech without a degree and choosing an IT certification cover alternatives. You can also look up unfamiliar terms in our glossary.

Conclusion

Checking accreditation is quick, free and one of the most important steps before you enroll online. Verify the school in both the Department of Education’s DAPIP database and CHEA’s directory, confirm that the accreditor itself is recognized, and check programmatic accreditation and state licensure if your career depends on it. If any check fails or the school pressures you to pay before you verify, walk away.

Sources

• US Department of Education: DAPIP — official database of accredited institutions, programs and recognized agencies
• US Department of Education: Institutional accrediting agencies — federally recognized institutional accreditors
• CHEA directories — CHEA database of accredited institutions, programs and recognized accreditors
• FTC: College degree scams — diploma mill and fake accreditor warning signs
• NC-SARA: SARA for states — SARA member states and how reciprocity works
• DEAC: Recognition — DEAC’s recognition by the Department of Education and CHEA